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Hagar

Woman living at the time of the Patriarchs

Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian maidservant, bore Abraham a son named Ishmael and is also mentioned in Paul's allegory in Galatians.

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Also known as Agar

Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant of Sarah, Abraham's wife. When Sarah was unable to conceive, she gave Hagar to Abraham as a concubine to bear a child on her behalf, following the custom of the time (Gen.16.1-3). Hagar conceived and gave birth to a son named Ishmael (Gen.16.15). However, tensions arose between Hagar and Sarah, leading Sarah to mistreat Hagar, who then fled into the wilderness (Gen.16.4-6). An angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, instructing her to return and submit to Sarah, and promising that her descendants would be greatly multiplied (Gen.16.7-10). Years later, after Isaac was born to Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away by Abraham at Sarah's insistence (Gen.21.9-14). God heard Ishmael's cry in the wilderness and provided for him and Hagar, promising to make Ishmael into a great nation (Gen.21.17-21). In the New Testament, Paul uses Hagar and Sarah as an allegory, with Hagar representing the old covenant of slavery under the law, and Sarah representing the new covenant of freedom through Christ (Gal.4.24-25). Hagar's story illustrates God's care for the oppressed and His faithfulness to His promises, even to those outside the primary line of Abraham's descendants.

Family

Spouse or partner
Abraham
Children
Ishmael

Connections

Part of: The patriarchal families

Isaac and Ishmael: two sons of Abraham by two mothers

FamilyStated in the text

Ishmael was born to Abraham and Sarah's servant Hagar, Isaac to Sarah. Tension over inheritance led to Hagar and Ishmael's departure, yet both sons are blessed in God's promises, and they together buried Abraham at Machpelah.

IsaacSon of AbrahamIshmaelSon of AbrahamAbrahamSon of TerahSarahSister of AbrahamHagarSarah's Egyptian maidservant; mother of Ishmael.
Where the text shows it: Gen 16:15 — Ishmael is born to HagarGen 21:8-14 — Isaac weaned; Hagar and Ishmael sent awayGen 17:20 — Ishmael is promised to become a great nationGen 25:9 — Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham

Sources: Gen 16:15 · Gen 21:8-14 · Gen 17:20 · Gen 25:9

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Bible dictionary

Hagar Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.) as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt, through the desert of Shur, which lay between. Wearied and worn she had reached the place she distinguished by the name of Beer-lahai-roi (“the well of the visible God”), where the angel of the Lord appeared to her. In obedience to the heavenly visitor she returned to the tent of Abraham, where her son Ishmael was born, and where she remained (16) till after the birth of Isaac, the space of fourteen years. Sarah after this began to vent her dissatisfaction both on Hagar and her child. Ishmael’s conduct was insulting to Sarah, and she insisted that he and his mother should be dismissed. This was accordingly done, although with reluctance on the part of Abraham (Gen. 21:14). They wandered out into the wilderness, where Ishmael, exhausted with his journey and faint from thirst, seemed about to die. Hagar “lifted up her voice and wept,” and the angel of the Lord, as before, appeared unto her, and she was comforted and delivered out of her distresses (Gen. 21:18, 19). Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian (Gen. 21:20, 21). “Hagar” allegorically represents the Jewish church (Gal. 4:24), in bondage to the ceremonial law; while “Sarah” represents the Christian church, which is free.

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Hagar Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(flight), an Egyptian woman, the handmaid or slave of Sarah, (Genesis 16:1) whom the latter gave as a concubine to Abraham, after he had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and had no children by Sarah. ch (Genesis 16:2,3) (B.C. 1912.) When Hagar saw that she had conceived, “her mistress was despised in her eyes,” v. 4, and Sarah, with the anger, we may suppose, of a free woman rather than of a wife, reproached Abraham for the results of her own act. Hagar fled, turning her steps toward her native land through the great wilderness traversed by the Egyptian road. By the fountain in the way to Shur the angel of the Lord found her, charged her to return and submit herself under the hands of her mistress, and delivered the remarkable prophecy respecting her unborn child recorded in vs. 10-12. On her return she gave birth to Ishmael, and Abraham was then eighty-six years old. When Ishmael was about sixteen years old, he was caught by Sarah making sport of her young son Isaac at the festival of his weaning, and Sarah demanded the expulsion of Hagar and her son. She again fled toward Egypt, and when in despair at the want of water, an angel again appeared to her, pointed out a fountain close by, and renewed the former promises to her. (Genesis 21:9-21) St. Paul, (Galatians 4:25) refers to her as the type of the old covenant of the law.

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Hagar Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

a stranger; one that fears

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Hagar Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

HA'GAR (flight), an Egyptian woman who lived in the family of Abraham as bond-woman. At Sarah's own suggestion, she became the concubine of Abraham. When she conceived, her mistress was "despised in her eyes." Gen 16:4. In consequence of it, Hagar was harshly treated and fled away from the house of Abraham. She made her way toward Egypt, her native country, through the wilderness of Shur, and while resting herself near a fountain by the wayside she was visited by an angel, who promised her an innumerable seed and a son whose name was to be Ishmael. The angel at the same time directed her to return home and submit herself to her mistress. The place of this manifestation was afterward known as Beer-lahai-roi, "well of the living and seeing [God]." Gen 16:14. We lose sight of Hagar entirely from this time on till the festival of Isaac's weaning. On that occasion Sarah saw Ishmael mocking or making sport of her child. She immediately demanded the banishment of Ishmael and his mother from their home. Abraham was pained by the demand; but being divinely admonished to comply, he rose up early in the morning, and supplying Hagar with bread and a bottle of water sent her and her child away. She found her way to the wilderness of Beer-sheba; but her supply of water was exhausted. Placing the child under one of the shrubs that she might not see it die, she mingled her prayers with its cries. God heard the prayer, and disclosed to her a fountain. She at the same time received again the promise (fulfilled in the Arabs) that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. Gen 21:9-21. Paul refers to Hagar, Gal 4:25, as a type of the Law and its bondage.

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Hagar Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

HA'GAR (flight), an Egyptian woman

who lived in the family of Abraham as bond-woman. At Sarah's own suggestion, she became the concubine of Abraham. When she conceived, her mistress was "despised in her eyes." Gen 16:4. In consequence of it, Hagar was harshly treated and fled away from the house of Abraham. She made her way toward Egypt, her native country, through the wilderness of Shur, and while resting herself near a fountain by the wayside she was visited by an angel, who promised her an innumerable seed and a son whose name was to be Ishmael. The angel at the same time directed her to return home and submit herself to her mistress. The place of this manifestation was afterward known as Beer-lahai-roi, "well of the living and seeing [God]." Gen 16:14. We lose sight of Hagar entirely from this time on till the festival of Isaac's weaning. On that occasion Sarah saw Ishmael mocking or making sport of her child. She immediately demanded the banishment of Ishmael and his mother from their home. Abraham was pained by the demand; but being divinely admonished to comply, he rose up early in the morning, and supplying Hagar with bread and a bottle of water sent her and her child away. She found her way to the wilderness of Beer-sheba; but her supply of water was exhausted. Placing the child under one of the shrubs that she might not see it die, she mingled her prayers with its cries. God heard the prayer, and disclosed to her a fountain. She at the same time received again the promise (fulfilled in the Arabs) that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. Gen 21:9-21. Paul refers to Hagar, Gal 4:25, as a type of the Law and its bondage.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Hagar appears

12 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1904

Genesis10
Galatians2

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.